


I Went to the County Fair and All I Got Was This Alpaca

by rebelmeg, remreader



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Awesome Pepper Potts, Depression, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Feels, Gerald picks his human, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:28:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27793084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebelmeg/pseuds/rebelmeg, https://archiveofourown.org/users/remreader/pseuds/remreader
Summary: Pepper has been doing her best to help Tony manage his depression after the Snap. A surprise encounter at the county fair gives her an idea for one more thing she can try...
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Comments: 42
Kudos: 106
Collections: Comfortember 2020, Ladies of Marvel Bingo 2020, Pepperony Bingo 2020, Tony Stark Bingo Mark IV





	I Went to the County Fair and All I Got Was This Alpaca

**Author's Note:**

> **Comfortember Prompts**  
>  12\. Therapy/Emotional Support Pet  
> 26\. Junk Food  
> 30\. Recovery
> 
> This fic also knocks out squares for Tony Stark Bingo, Ladies of Marvel Bingo, and Pepperony Bingo!
> 
> Title: I Went to the County Fair and All I Got Was This Alpaca  
> Collaborators: newnewyorker93 & rebelmeg  
> Card Numbers: 4042 & 4034  
> Squares Filled:  
>  **newnewyorker93**  
>  TSB, T1 - Animal  
> LoMB, O3 - meet cute  
> Pepperony Bingo, B5 - smiles  
>  **rebelmeg**  
>  TSB, S5 - Animal  
> LoMB, O4 - “You are a great snuggler.”  
> Ship: Pepperony  
> Rating: Gen  
> Major Tags: depression, Pepper cares, accidental alpaca acquisition  
> Summary: Pepper has been doing her best to help Tony manage his depression after the Snap. A surprise encounter at the county fair gives her an idea for one more thing she can try...  
> Word Count: 2530

It wasn't that Pepper was worried about Tony doing something drastic. In these last few months since returning from being stranded in space he'd been meeting with his therapist three times a week and taking his medication without complaint. He hadn't pulled away from her and retreated to the isolation of his workshop (which was its own problem, of course, but at least Pepper didn't have to worry about him taking one of his projects too far on top of everything else). In the end what it came down to was this - Pepper missed Tony's smile, and she missed his laugh, and she hated feeling powerless to help bring them both back.

And she knew it was something like a last-ditch attempt, dragging him to the county fair. Honestly, she’d been surprised that there had been a fair at all, but it seemed that as much as the world had lost, those that were left were clinging with all their might to what they still had. There weren’t as many people, of course, but when she and Tony got to the fairground it was still bustling with activity. There were little kids running around with balloons tied to their wrists, people holding unstable paper plates loaded with food, and the air was full of the bizarre amalgamated aromas of fried food and… animals. Hardly unexpected at a fair, but it still had Pepper briefly second-guessing this little outing.

For his part, Tony seemed content enough to walk through the fair with Pepper, his hand held loosely in hers as she led the way. They took in the sights at a leisurely pace, wandering around with no real plan in mind. It was… nice. Pleasant, even. To a casual observer, there'd be nothing off about the scene at all, just a couple enjoying the day together. But there was no running string of babbling commentary from Tony, no silly jokes about the meta-humor of it all when they encountered a giant sculpture of a cow made entirely out of butter, and he showed only the mildest interest in the farm vehicle exhibition, which would've, under normal circumstances, been one of the highlights of the fair for him.

When they'd just about run out of other things to see, Pepper decided to take the plunge - hopefully not literally, she was _definitely_ watching where she stepped - and took Tony over to the livestock enclosures. Which smelled just… terrible, but when Pepper caught a look at Tony’s face and the way he was wrinkling his nose too, he very nearly smiled at her, the corner of his mouth twitching up. She could suffer some barnyard odors for that.

There was a lot of noise by the rabbit area - some sort of bunny hop "race" was going on - and a crowd had gathered around the pig pens to see the adorable piglets squealing and rooting around in the hay. Tony and Pepper avoided this chaos for the moment and ended up on the far end of the enclosures, sitting on a haybale. Several of them had been arranged around the outside of a pen occupied by some fluffy looking animals - llamas or possibly alpacas. The things with the long necks, Pepper couldn't tell the difference offhand. Tony was holding her hand, his thumb stroking over her skin like he often did when he had something on his mind, and Pepper was just about to ask him about it when something happened that completely distracted the both of them from any potential conversation.

One of the alpacas (llamas?) had managed to silently walk up behind them and as Pepper watched it leaned right in between them and rested its head on Tony's shoulder. It took a moment before Tony fully processed what had just happened and Pepper's breath caught in her throat, waiting for him to jerk away or have some other even worse reaction; he hadn't dealt well with things unexpectedly entering his personal space lately. And he did startle, looking at the animal in surprise. But then, to Pepper's utter surprise… Tony’s eyes went absolutely soft, and almost like he wasn't thinking about it, his hand came up slowly to pet carefully along the creature's long neck. It actually _hummed_ in response, which was a super weird noise to hear coming from an animal that big, but Tony didn’t so much as flinch. In fact… he just looked starry-eyed and delighted.

He shot a glance at Pepper, an actual, genuine, _beaming_ smile on his face. “Pep, there’s an alpaca _snuggling_ me.”

She had to swallow hard before she could answer, because Tony was _smiling_. “Well, you are a great snuggler.”

She thought the alpaca would lose interest and wander away once Tony removed its headrest by turning around on the haybale to get a better look at it. But it didn’t, it just stayed there and let Tony pet it, even letting him ruffle the fluff of curly wool (fur?) at the top of its head.

“Well, you’re a bit of an attention hog, aren’t you? You just wanna be petted, you don’t care who’s doing it.” Tony was using the same almost crooning tone with the alpaca that he usually reserved for talking to his bots.

The alpaca hummed again, and nudged even closer to Tony, blinking its dark eyes. Tony looked up at it with that soft expression and for the first time in months, Pepper could see that some of the tension in his shoulders and around his eyes had loosened. It had been so long since she’d seen him this way, without that ever-present sadness that seemed to cling to him like a second skin.

Next the alpaca started nuzzling at Tony’s face, it’s fuzzy nose and lips actually touching his skin. Tony chuckled, his nose twitching, and his eyes were sparkling when he looked over at Pepper. “This is one of the weirdest things that has ever happened to me, I love it.” After another minute of petting the alpaca, Tony cocked his head, sniffing the air with interest, a pleasantly puzzled expression on his face. "Mmm, you smell that? I smell food."

Crap, she was definitely gonna cry. She'd been casually pointing out food vendors to Tony all afternoon but he'd remained uninterested, his appetite stubbornly non-existent even when faced with the seductive sights and aromas of the veritable smorgasbord of culinary delights the fair had to offer. But now… “Are you hungry?” she prompted, unable to keep the hopeful tone out of her voice.

Tony looked thoughtful, but he didn’t take his hands off the alpaca, still absentmindedly petting the long neck and fluffy wool on its head. “Yeah, actually. Something out there smells _really_ good.”

“Well, I'm pretty sure it’s _not_ the alpaca,” Pepper muttered, looking dubiously at the grass and hoping again that she wouldn’t step in anything when they left this area.

With a laugh, Tony got up. He gave the alpaca a final scritch behind its ears before stepping back and wiping his hands off on his jeans. “I’m gonna go see what they’ve got. Wanna come with?”

“I’ll meet you by the tables,” Pepper gestured to the picnic tables that had been set out in the shade. "I want to find a restroom first.” With a grin and a wink, Tony turned away with his hands in his pockets, and as she watched him walk away, Pepper could definitely see an extra bit of bounce in his step. "And wash your hands before you touch any food!" She called out before he made it out of earshot.

Sniffling a little bit and rubbing her eyes, she looked back at the alpaca. It was staring after Tony too, and she wondered if it might try to follow him. A crazy idea started to take root in her head. A very Tony-esque impulse decision - he'd clearly rubbed off on her - but it felt right. She'd read a fair amount about emotional support animals, of course, but if she hadn't really considered it much as an option for Tony (and if she _had_ she'd have imagined something smaller - a cat or maybe even a dog). But an emotional support alpaca was just the sort of nonsense Tony Stark would pick (though this time the nonsense had definitely picked him instead). And they certainly had the outdoor space so… why not?

“Okay. Let’s figure out who you belong to.” She murmured, bending down and trying to get a look at the tag around the animal’s neck without actually touching it. “I need to take you home with me.”

She made the arrangements with the alpaca's owner quickly, keeping an eye out for Tony the whole time, and even managed to beat him to the picnic bench. She had just sat down when he appeared, carrying a plastic tray full of assorted (and at a quick glance, mostly greasy and/or fried) offerings.

“Care for some funnel cake?” He asked, holding out a paper plate very liberally coated in sugar, chocolate drizzle, and a dollop of whipped cream on top of the crispy fried cake. Pepper could see that he'd already picked a few pieces off the edges, even though the plate was still actively steaming. Having hardly any nerve endings left in your fingertips had some perks, clearly. “Note the lack of strawberries, please and thank you.”

Pepper raised an eyebrow at Tony, trying and failing to not find him cute. “I’m sure we’ll both appreciate the lack of hives later.”

“And, before you say anything about it, I did get something healthy.” He pointed out another paper plate with a flourish, this one holding a giant deep-fried blooming onion with some kind of ranch dip next to it. “Behold. A vegetable.” 

Pepper couldn't quite hide her smile as she gently chastised him. “Honey, I really don’t think that counts as healthy. I barely think it counts as a vegetable.”

“An onion is a vegetable!”

“Yes, and _that_ one has been battered and deep-fried beyond all recognition.”

“If we batter and deep-fry _you_ , you'd still be a Pepper. Why are you holding an innocent onion to different standards? That’s just wrong, Mrs. Stark.”

“Maybe it’s the onion that’s wrong, Mr. Stark.” Pepper bantered back automatically, the reflex still strong after months of relative disuse. The realization of that, of the sheer normalcy of this moment - Tony light-heartedly teasing her over snacks - set her eyes to watering, just a little bit. When Tony noticed, she deflected, insisting the smoke lingering in the air from the nearby pig roast was the culprit, and she waited to dab her eyes until he had ambled off in eager search of roast pork.

* * *

At home that evening, Tony had just finished setting the table for dinner when they heard the noise of a truck coming up the lane to their lakehouse. “Who could that be?”

Pepper, who knew very well who it was, went back to the salad she was tossing. Pepper's turn to make dinner always meant salad - she swore up and down that it was for health reasons but they both knew she just didn’t get along well with the stove. At least today there was the nutritionist's worst nightmare of a county fair lunch as an added excuse. She barely managed to keep a straight face as she replied in a carefully neutral tone, “Just some stuff I ordered for the garden, can you go take care of it for me?"

"Ooh, look at you with your green thumb." Tony responded, impressed. " _Please_ tell me this means I get to see you in overalls sometime in the very near future. Preferably short ones, y’know, the ones that cut off right about here?" He demonstrated on his own leg, drawing a line _barely_ below the curve of his butt cheek.

Pepper wouldn't mind seeing _Tony_ in some overalls like that, now that he mentioned it. She decided to bookmark that particular line of thought for later consideration and for now just rolled her eyes and gave Tony a gentle shove towards the door. She waited until he had ambled out the door and down the steps, then rushed to the window to peek out. The look on Tony’s face when he was shown around to the back of the truck - and caught a glimpse of the animal trailer hitched to it - was absolutely priceless.

“He’s all yours, Mr. Stark!” The woman that had driven the truck announced cheerfully as she led a familiar alpaca out of the trailer on a rope leash. Even from her distant vantage point at the window Pepper could see the expression of delighted shock on Tony's face and the way his eyes were shining as he recognized his unexpected friend from the fair. The second the alpaca got close enough, he reached out to pet it and the animal went right to him, their connection from earlier clearly still very much in effect. “Your wife made all the arrangements," the woman continued with a smile. "I just need a signature here to confirm delivery, and I'll go unload the rest of his things!”

Once everything was signed and delivered and the truck on its way again Pepper turned back to the counter and finished prepping the salad. Instead of bringing it to the dining room, she served it into two bowls and headed out to the yard. She guessed Tony wouldn't want to come back inside for a while yet.

Going by the way he was sitting cross-legged on the grass, with the alpaca curled up next to him with its head in his lap, Pepper was pretty sure she was right.

“I’m gonna name him Gerald,” Tony announced, beaming up at her as he petted the alpaca’s neck. 

“Acronym?” Pepper asked, handing over a bowl.

“Well, now that you mention it…” Tony forked a bite of salad and thought as he chewed. “Grass Eating Rrrrrroughage And Lawn Deterrent?”

“Did you just come up with that right on the spot?”

“Kinda. Scary, isn't it?” Tony not-so-subtly flicked a cherry tomato out of his salad, probably trying to flip it towards the alpaca. He ended up yelping a little bit when it landed on the grass between his legs and Gerald dove after it. “Eat the tomato, not the balls!”

Pepper nearly choked on an olive.  


* * *

In the end, Gerald turned out to be exactly what Pepper had hoped for when she had that first wild inkling of an idea to bring the alpaca home. Tony's road to recovery was still long and often bumpy, but with his new fuzzy companion there to help, it was like something in Tony that had been holding him prisoner had finally been unlocked. He started smiling more frequently again, his appetite was back, and for the first time in ages, he’d been out to the garage just to tinker and hang out with the bots. It was the best feeling in the world for Pepper to look at him and know that she really did have her husband back.

(Gerald did have to be banned from the workshop almost immediately though. Alpacas and wiring definitely do _not_ mix.)


End file.
